Name(s): Getter Robo: Armageddon / Change!! Getter Robo: Sekai Saigo no Hi / Shin Getter Robo: The Last Day / Change!! Getter Robo: The Final Days of the World / Shin Getter Robo: Sekai Saigo no Hi / 真(チェンジ!!)ゲッターロボ 世界最後の日
Format: Original video animation [OVA] (13 episodes)
Studio(s): Brain’s Base

When I chose to watch New Getter Robo, it was because I was hoping it’d be Getter Robo‘s version of Shin Mazinger—that is, a half reboot, half updated version of a classic franchise. It turns out that what I was looking for lie in Getter Robo: Armageddon (GRA), even though it predated Shin Mazinger.

I’ve never been a big Getter Robo fan. The team themselves are cool, being unusual antiheroes who still stand out in the expansive mecha genre that the original manga heavily influenced, but aside from them I don’t get all that excited for the storylines, remaining cast, or mechs themselves. Sounds kind of damning, but I still like the simpler classics in the right dosage.

This is what GRA aspires to be: an extravagant flame that burns out as quick as it gets lit. Like Shin Mazinger, Getter Robo: Armageddon takes place in its own continuity, but draws influences and themes from all throughout the franchise. Despite not technically being the end to anything other than an obscure radio drama, Getter Robo: Armageddon feels like the finale and apex of Getter Robo, taking what’s always been there—and blowing it the hell up.

Yet, Getter Robo: Armageddon primarily stands out because it attempts to have a serious storyline, which is rare by the franchise’s standards. To draw another comparison with Shin Mazinger, in GRA it seems everyone has a secret and there’s a surprise hidden in every episode. There’s a kitsch value to GRA’s though in that they’re twists for the sake of being twists and aren’t as shocking as the dramatic story tone would lead you to believe. It’s all good fun though, because when you get right down to it Getter Robo: Armageddon is a proud super robot show that revels in the bombast instead of attempting it to take the genre to new places. I’m not a big fan of explosive super robot shows, but I can always be up for a bit of it.

Getter Robo: Armageddon can be slow-going at times. The drama is so simple that it can be hard to get into the non-action segments, and the fights can get repetitive after a while, but everything is justified in a gigantic finale that seems to come suddenly out of nowhere given everything that’s happened before. It’s obvious to know what I mean when you see it, but to explain it in a way most people would understand, it’s funny how much a series like Gurren Lagann blatantly copied from it. Though, from what I know about GaoGaiGar, it may have both of them beat chronologically for such absurd mecha action.

The animation seemed pretty fluid, but it was hard to tell as I could only find a mediocre quality version. The music is definitely great, from the retro anthemic theme music to the score itself. All in all, not one of my favorite mecha series by a long shot, but it’s one of the better I’ve seen in this specific super robot brand, and it does modern justice to the Getter Robo franchise, and in doing so it confirms Getter Robo as a timeless classic of the genre.